‘They know how to fight back’ – Chris Silverwood points where England lost The Oval Test

England head coach Chris Silverwood has praised the Indian team saying that Virat Kohli and co. knows how to fight back. The appreciation and compliment come from the opposition camp after India made a comeback once again to win the fourth Test against England at The Oval in London. With this, India is now leading the series 2-1 with one to play in Manchester.

England skipper Joe Root had won the toss on day one and elected to field first. His decision seemed alright till England bowled India out for 191 on the first day itself. England then went ahead and found themselves struggling on 62 for 5. They did manage to recover and score 290, getting a handy 99-run lead, but many felt England should have got a bigger lead.

England head coach expressed similar thoughts and echoed something which skipper Root himself admitted after the match. India went on to score 466 in their second innings, with Rohit Sharma getting a century while there were substantial contributions by almost the entirety of their batting unit.

It would have been great to go maybe 190 past them and really pile the pressure on: Chris Silverwood

“If we’re being truthful, I would like to have gone further past them at that point, that’s going to be the opportunity to really put pressure on the Indians. We failed to do that so it’s something we’ll reflect on in the dressing room and talk about amongst ourselves,” Silverwood told Sky Sports.

England even had started the fifth day with some hope. After being 77 for 0 after 32 overs on day four, England still needed 291 runs. Till about lunchtime, England found themselves getting into the day’s play, but it was in the second session when India exerted every bit of pressure on them, from where they couldn’t have recovered.

Silverwood said that he would’ve liked it if the first-inning lead would have been about 200 runs, which could have been crucial. However, as it stands, even after being dismissed for 191 and being 99 runs behind in the first innings, India managed to make a comeback.

“It would have been great to go maybe 190 past them and really pile the pressure on, but again credit to the Indians, they know how to fight back,” he added.